Family Outing

Monday afternoon, we went to Monrovian Park, part of Fishlake National Forest for a fun family outing. Michelle was elated because she play with her new toy, the new camera. Jacob, of course, just loved being outside in general doing his usual: scooping up the gravel/dirt, lifting it overhead, and letting it run out of his hands.

Here's the family in our attempt at a self-portrait. I used the tripod and 10 sec timer. The downside was that there wasn't enough shade to soften some of the shadows, although the fill-in flash helped somewhat:

Michelle got some awesome shots, she's a real natural:

I got some too:

Safe in Utah

I made it safely! There was horrible traffic in Denver (on a Saturday afternoon of all times), and a nasty thunderstorm while going through the Rockies, but I made it here safe and sound.

Here's a couple of cool cloudy sky pics I couldn't resist taking while in Colorado.

Here's a pic of Jacob and I playing the puddles after the rain storm today.

Made it to Hays, KS

I finished taking my boards yesterday. Hopefully that means I'm done with that for a couple of years. It was a worse experience this time. The questions were worded more poorly than last year's exam. There were some questions whose answer choices didn't provide enough information to distinguish which one was the right answer. Plus, they had a billion Chapman's reflex points questions (AKA someone who has illness A supposedly should have a musculoskeletal tenderspot on point X2 on their body; it's simply easier, quicker, and more precise to listen to their symptoms and do a good physical exam than rely on these spots, they add nothing diagnostically to the health visit). First of all, learning these is a complete waste of time because they are NOT used in the area of medicine, even with those specialized in OMT. They are merely osteopathic trivia questions perpetuated by academia and placed in national boards for questions in attempts to validate the teaching and learning of them. This Step 2 of the boards which I just took is intended to supposedly test more on the clinical side of medicine, where-as step 1 was more basic sciences. I've never muddled through a more clinically irrelevant set of testing before in my life. There was a hugely disproportionately high number of UTI and OB/GYN questions and low number of cardiopulmonary and GI questions. I swear 50% or more of the questions asked either about women's health or chapman's points. I'm not saying that women's health is not important, but in terms of real-world numbers of cases seen in clinic, this testing does not accurately reflect the proportion of knowledge base of a physician who should be able to recognize heart disease, lung disease, and GI pathology which are way more common, deadly, and more of a negative impact on quality of life than chapman's points. Two thumbs WAY down on this one.

Whew! Sorry about that rant. Had to be done. I just hope I passed so I don't have to muddle through that again.

I left KC, MO last night. I'm in Hays, KS. Only 12 more hours of driving and I'll be in Richfield, UT with my sweet wife and beautiful children! I'm excited.

Cryptoquote Challenge Time

ZOQ CLDG HQDDLA ZLLI V CLLI LM YVHVNF VMG ZNFQG ZL NQVG CQZAQQM ZOQ DFLMY.

Hint:
G = D, Z = T

I'll post the answer in the comment section later on. If you figure it out, feel free to post the answer as a comment.

Utah ETA - 3 Days!!!

Less than a week before I get to see my beautiful wife and kids again. Yay!

A Thought for the Sabbath

I thought I would be fitting to include a couple of excerpts from my talk in today's post as a "thought for the day":

"Every one of us has times when we need to know things will get better. Moroni spoke of it in the Book of Mormon as “hope for a better world.” For emotional health and spiritual stamina, everyone needs to be able to look forward to some respite, to something pleasant and renewing and hopeful, whether that blessing be near at hand or still some distance ahead. It is enough just to know we can get there, that however measured or far away, there is the promise of “good things to come.” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland)

"The Lord never said that there would not be troubles. Our people have known afflictions of every sort as those who have opposed this work have come upon them. But faith has shown through all their sorrows. This work has consistently moved forward and has never taken a backward step since its inception.

"This is an age of pessimism. Ours is a mission of faith. To my brethren and sisters everywhere, I call upon you to reaffirm your faith, to move this work forward across the world. You can make it stronger by the manner in which you live. Let the gospel be your sword and your shield. Each of us is a part of the greatest cause on earth. Its doctrine came of revelation. Its priesthood came of divine bestowal. Another witness has been added to its testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is literally the little stone of Daniel’s dream which was “cut out of the mountain without hands [to] roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth” (D&C 65:2).

“I invite every one of you, wherever you may be as members of this church, to stand on your feet and with a song in your heart move forward, living the gospel, loving the Lord, and building the kingdom. Together we shall stay the course and keep the faith, the Almighty being our strength.” (President Gordon B. Hinckley)

Enjoy your sabbath and God bless.

Sunday Talk

I have a talk to give on Sunday about "enduring to the end" and/or "stay the course." I thought: what a fitting theme based off of what Michelle & I have been through with the military and past finances. I originally was scheduled to give it last Sunday but a member of the stake presidency showed up, so I either could cut it short/reader's digest version or delay it for a week. I thought I'd need more than five minutes to share my personal story about the military as it relates to staying the course while trusting in God through much prayer and counsel to endure to the end.

Wish me luck.

My New Uniform

I finally got my complete Army uniform together. The only thing I was missing was the beret which I finally found after looking around the house for the past two weeks. This is what I'll be wearing most of the time in August.

Textures, Color Accents, and Nature

Kansas City Evening Shots

I took the camera and tripod out to a park high on a hill near the city center and snapped a few slow shutter shots. I'd like to have a vote as to which one you like the best, or if you don't care for any of them, I'd also like to know. I'm not easily offended :-)

#1:


#2:


#3:

Med School Update

Between all the photo shoots, I guess I should throw-in a mention about medical school. I just took the clinical skills portion of my 2nd step of National Boards at the national testing center in Philadelphia on Saturday. They rotate you through 12 different standardized patients (basically, amateur actors faking an illness, sometimes very poorly). You have to conduct a focused history of illness, perform a focused physical exam, and then write a doctor's note about what the history told you, what you found on physical exam, what you think it might be, and what you plan on doing about it. They give you 14 minutes for the history and physical and 9 minutes to write the note. It was really stressful with the first 2-3 encounters, but after that I found my groove and worked my way through the rest. I know I didn't ace it by any means. I left each encounter thinking about what I forgot to ask or write down in my note, of course, because hind-sight is 20/20. Luckily, they are grading pass/fail based on MINIMAL competency of your history, physical exam, and note writing skills. I'm just glad it's over. As far as how I feel about my performance, I think I did okay. I just hope my 'okay' is good enough. You leave each one of these board examinations just feeling drained, unsure about your performance, and wondering whether you're going to have to come back to take it again.

Macro

Trying out yet another feature of the camera...

Uncle Loren's New Chickens

Here's the newest additions to Loren & Penny's farmstead

I just think babies are adorable in general. Even baby chickens.

The latter-half of the video is pretty dark (there wasn't a lot of light to begin with), sorry about that.

More Fun Photos...

And, because I just couldn't resist:

(I really didn't realize a full moon was out ;-)

Fun Sky Pics

I recent purchased a new camera since our old one was showing its age, and I've been a little camera-happy every since (it's a Canon Powershot S5 IS)

For these, I used a polarizing filter:

How Does My Garden Grow...

Minus the silver bells and cockle shells, very well this year. So far, we have 13 tomatoes, 11 jalapenos, 2 bell peppers, 6 basil plants, thyme, and oregano. See for yourself:

The tomatoes are in their cages which our landlord Mark lended to us. The yellow and orange flowers are the marigolds. The shiny, leafy plants between the marigolds are the basil. The plants with the tear drop leaves between the tomato plants are the jalapeno and bell peppers.

Here's some closer shots:

I'll be even more excited once we start harvesting.

My 4th of July Fireworks

Here's a video of fireworks from Loren & Penny's place:


Enjoy!